At long last, Dreadlilocks let herself slip into the beginnings of despair.

She sat quietly on the floor, holding her knees to her chest. And in this way she remained for the undefined amount of time that passed while Jack dozed in his rocking chair.

He wanted to sleep, but he found he was not able to; not really. He wasn’t used to sharing his space with another prisoner…every few minutes he would open one eye and glance at the child, presumably to see if she might show any new signs of life. Perhaps she would get up and yell at him again; say something surprisingly eloquent and inspirational about ‘saving the world’.

But she remained still and silent.

Jack sighed. “…So,” he ventured. “I guess you’re feeling pretty…devastated, right about now…”

“…Isn’t that what you wanted…?” Dreadli replied.

“What I…look, I was only trying to make you understand the situation. The Odsplut had a point, you know; about being at peace. Who wants to be dragged into hell kicking and screaming? Not me…”

“I’m not ‘at peace’. I’m sad,” said Dreadli. “And mad. And I’m gonna stay that way until the end.”

“I’m telling you, there’s no point…”

“There doesn’t have to be a point. It’s just how I feel.”

She flopped onto her side, her locs softly thudding against the tile floor.

Jack sighed again. “…I’m guessing a good portion of these feelings are directed at me specifically, and not just the general situation…?”

Dreadlilocks just folded her arms.

“…Now I know what you’re thinking: You probably want to call me a lazy, pessimistic, apathetic, good-for-nothing deadbeat—”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Slugabed.”

“That, too. But I swear to you on what’s left of my life, if there were any way for me to try to save this world that wouldn’t just result in instant destruction, I would do it.”

He stood up. “Do you know why the Odsplut is hiding under the floor??” he asked. “If I step out of line for one fraction of a second, I’m as good as gone. It’s an immutable fact; there is literally no way around it! That’s what I’m up against here…!”

Dreadlilocks’ expression softened a little, but she didn’t move.

“You know, I…do have a stake in this,” Jack went on. “I have written a lot of things— you, for instance—and once I even believed I was an important part of the universe. I never wanted things to turn out this way; I was as disappointed as you are when I realized I was gonna die in this…chair…but…it is what it is.”

“So in conclusion, be mad/sad at me if you want to, but just know that you’re totally unjustified and also…really mean,” he finished. And with that, he joined Dreadli on the floor, face down in front of his rocking chair.

Reluctantly, Dreadli began to feel guilty. She turned to look at Jack, with his striped scarf sprawled around him on the ground.

It was a rather pathetic sight.

The Caramel Odsplut nudged the side of her face as if to encourage her, and she sighed.

“…Oh…Mr. Jack…I’m sorry I made you feel bad,” she said.

“…Forget it,” he answered.

“No, really…to be honest, the way you’re always sulking is kind of annoying, but it’s not like you don’t have any real problems. I guess you have more right than anyone to be a…sad-sack.”

“You’re still calling me names…”

“That’s the last one, I promise~.”

She crawled over to him. “There’s something I want to ask, though…if you really are as helpless right now as you say, where did Gin get the idea that you could kill Mère L’Oye??”

Jack immediately raised his head. “…Did she say that…?” he asked.

“Well, yeah…it was what she wanted me to tell you to do, at first,” Dreadli replied. “I didn’t really like the idea, though. I mean, you can’t just ask someone to kill their mother…”

Jack stared into the distance, wide-eyed, as if the thought had never occurred to him.

Dreadli noticed. “Um…Mr. Jack…?” she asked.

“…Never mind. I mean…I was just thinking,” Jack said, shaking his head and sitting up. “…Gin…wasn’t wrong. Theoretically, I could…at least, I could have, before things got to this point…”

“Because of the Odsplut??”

“Because of the Odsplut…”

Dreadli furrowed her brow. “…There has to be some way to beat it,” she said. “If only we could get rid of it somehow; then you could—”

“Kill my mother? Are you in favor of the murder plan now…?”

“N-no, but…well, we can’t do anything with that thing around! I mean, what would you do if it wasn’t here to stop you? There’d be more options, wouldn’t there??”

Jack stroked his chin. “…Well, now that you mention it,” he said. “I did have…one plan.”